Om Prakash Rawat appointed as new Chief Election Commissioner

Om Prakash Rawat has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner, succeeding incumbent Achal Kumar Jyoti to the post, while ex-finance secretary Ashok Lavasa will be the new election commissioner.

Both of them will take charge from January 23.

A 1977-batch IAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre. He was appointed to the Election Commission in August 2015.

Prior to his appointment as Election Commissioner of India, Rawat had retired as secretary, the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises.

He had earlier also served as a director in the defence ministry in 1993.

During this tenure, he was deputed to South Africa in May 1994, as United Nations election observer to oversee first post-apartheid elections in the country.

Rawat has also served as principal secretary to the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh between 2004 and 2006.